Some Thoughts on Paperwork Part 4 of ? - 1H March Drawings - a Picture-Heavy Post

All three of my art Zoom sessions are based in the Northern Hemisphere, and with them going into Daylight savings and us coming out of it, after Easter Monday-night-NZ-time face Zoom is the only one I can attend without much effort. (Although the early-Friday-NZ-time host is considering an NZ-daytime session during their summer.) Also, Suter sold my last scarf in stock, so really, I should get busy on the loom. 

With all that in mind, concentrating on a focal point, and stop meddling once I've "finished" are the new rules; when I get the urge to meddle, starting a second drawing helps. And to do that, focusing on an attractive feature helps to speed up the drawing. 

I ran out of silver gel ink, but it was satisfyingly finished. Then I went in with paint to add the light parts, and now she looks like she switched on the blender without the lid.  

A super quick, not-accurate drawing, and yet it the model looked exactly like this.  

This was an amazing model/pose; his right arm was far forward and close to his camera, presenting a fascinating foreshortening. And he had a lovely hairdo. I could have drawn him for hours.  

The lovely Monday night host; I think the hair worked. 

The green paint was working fine, and I was finished, and I liked it. Then I started drawing the shirt in blue, and the shape/size/placement was all wrong. A hard lesson in, "Stop meddling!" 

Happy with these; some details, some room left to imagination. Fewer lines would have been even better. Lack of likeness doesn't worry me. 

The drawing on the right is another example of my favourite models/poses not coming out well. Darn, darn, darn. 

For both women, I focused on the hair. They didn't look alike, but the drawings came out similarly. I'm fine with that. 

Friday morning NZ-time host with lilting Glaswegian accent; in the second try, I didn't have time for the head/hair or chin but to me this looks exactly like her.   

I started with the orange version, and ran out of fountain pen ink, so I moved on to the green with a ballpoint pen I just rediscovered. Brave of me; lucky it worked. Another of my fav model/pose.  

The more I get used to some of my new ways of drawing, I started to experience interesting new problems. See the "stabby" dots and "invisible" lines? The felt tip dug into the paper and didn't dance on the surface. I had to peek many times with this one to see what I was getting down and what wasn't showing. There's nothing on the other side; it's all on this side of the paper. 

Inexpensive black paper being hard to find, I'm experimenting with black gesso. Gel pens work wonderfully, but paint, watercolour or gouache, certain colors work and others don't. 

Gel pens, felt tips, and other modern pens are convenient and colorful, but for the amount of drawing you get, there is so much plastic waste. I experimented with a second refillable fountain pen. When held at the top end, these cannot be used at 90 degrees, but must be used at a slight angle, closer yo how you hold them in the normal way. It's a balance act. 

Drawings from the first half on March. 

Some Thoughts on Paperwork Part 3 of ? - A Mini Project

This is an example of how I used what I learned from Zoom art and applied it on a troublesome Letter Journal spread last week. 

In one of the private group Zooms, (is this word supposed to be capitalised?) we had to draw awfully complicated Paris buildings, one goal being to find what we want to focus on and what to omit. I drew blind lines. (I'm not calling them contours because I never draw only the contours.) When we were free to do whatever we chose later that hour, I blind-drew Vincent's irises, the subject I chose for the LJ spread. 

However, I realised the irises are so new/strange to me, (copying anything of Vincent's, in fact,) I couldn't tell which part of mine corresponded to which of his. Since I intended to colour them, I had to draw one, colour one, and move onto the next. After the Zoom session, I continued to draw the contours more of less blindly, occasionally looking and counting the number of petals, etc, not worrying when interesting parts were missing or in the wrong position. And then I drew/painted one iris in the journal. 

The left page, I thought, look more like Vincent, but if I weren't worried about likeness, I like the one on the right more. 

But I wanted to make it somewhat Vincent-like. I liked the last practice on the right the best. In order to better express the jaggedness/uneveness of his contour, I used a chopstick to draw the navy lines after all the other colours were laid down. The trick was not to stick the chopstick in the water bucket in between use, but to keep it dry. 

This is the final version in the swap journal. The colours look less true compared to my practices, (too much white, and substantially less of variations of blues,) but I think it looks sufficiently jittery and restless like Vincent's. Note the tiny hands at the bottom; the theme of his journal was "Fairy World". 

My interest in Vincent is his life/person, his era, friendships and post-Impressionism, his letters, and then his portraits. I found making a tiny not-exactly-copy of one flower extremely time-consuming and labour-intensive. I didn't like this for my paperwork, even though I haven't minded this kind of fussiness on the loom in the past. It's unlikely this kind of drawing/painting will become one of my repeat subject. Still, I'm glad I did it. Although... I might do a sunflower. And would definitely consider portraits. 

Something lucky happened in the final version, too. I used somewhat watered-down gouache for colouring in; (I had to mix colours and when I do, I tend to add water to make sure they are completely mixed, which wasn't necessary in this case,) on inexpensive 110g paper. In contrast, the journal spread was covered with a sticky substance, so I applied a layer of gesso. It prevented the paint from soaking straight through, and allowed me to mix/layer paint on top of it. And because I can't gesso evenly, it had a little texture, useful when imitating oil paint with watered-down gouache. 

I understand in the art world, "copying" has a specific definition.What I do sometimes is to draw by looking at, but not try to make an accurate copy of, someone’s work. I usually start with blind or partly blind lines, and sometimes colour them in. All very quick and uncomplicated. By trying to imitate? (i.e. mimicking by referencing??) I must be looking in a different way, carefully, and learn more than just looking/staring/observing. And if you repeat copying as many times as I do some paintings, there are always new things to discover. I like that. 

Next, please. 

Some Thoughts on Paperwork Part 2 of ? - Looking, Moving Slowly, Focusing/Highliting

One of the things we were repeatedly told in the figure drawing class of yore was to look, to not jump right into a drawing and start waving our hands/arms. I was very bad at this, often drawing as I prepared to look. Some weeks ago, in order to combat this, I somehow began to look for an element in the face I want to highlight, even leaving out other parts. I still started drawing while I looked for that special part, and often I still put in much too much, but the new focus helped quietening the mind. Some faces/poses yield so many elements I want to highlight; and let's face it, others, none. The easiest to highlight was the hair because of the textures and shapes, so much so some different faces ended up looking similar to each other on paper. Never mind, making things more complex is my forté; this simplification is new and exciting!  

I think this is why I turn to blind drawing more and more, as it slows down the hand. 

Then a new issue emerged; it's to walk away when I feel I'm finished. I try to stop by writing Q and to put the tool down, but more often than not I keep going and have ruined by meddling; and I seem to do this more often more recently. 

This man held a Matisse-shaped paper above his head, right elbow resting on the table. His eyes were also very quirky. I didn't get that far.

* * * 

Another thing I noticed; in short few weeks, I was gestural-drawing, something I loved years ago, but cannot turn on/off. I do it more often when I draw standing, or if I'm working "bigger". I try not to interfere, and it doesn't happen as often as I like, but when it does, it's intoxicating. 

Looking at the photos, I can't tell you with where one the magic happened. I don't know if I should make a note in future. 

* * * * * 

Something I tried in the private group: instead of blind contour drawing, I tried blind contour cutting. I noticed right away, when I'm cutting, I can only cut the outermost, or another, line, not all kinds of lines to illustrate a shape. Duh! I chose some of Modigliani photos and paintings I'm familiar with, but they were extremely quickly done, and somewhat unsatisfying. Groupmate C asked what I was going to do with them, and while I knew I had to do something, I had no idea. I chanced upon something I did with an incomplete screen print years ago, but it didn't work this time. I have other half-ideas, but I'm not sure if I want to spend too much time on these. 

* * * * * 

I knew this, but it remains true still: I prefer older people to smooth-skinned young faces in general, and faces that have lived a life, if you get my meaning. 

Also true, some of the best/loveliest/most interesting faces/poses don't turn out right in my hands, and the harder I try, the worse they come out. This is frustrating, and to put it mildly, soul-crushing; I could be working on a quick masterpiece in that time. I think this is what makes these sessions addictive, because maybe next time a beautiful face poses in a stunning way, I will be able to capture it! 

This man had the most professorial face and demeanor, and the only man wearing a jacket in my two months of Zoom drawing, but of course I couldn't do him justice. I can only hope the host picks him again. 

All the pics from Zoom Faces are from February; the private group photos are from January. 

Some Thoughts on Paperwork Part 1 of ?

I've been taking part in art Zoom art for upwards of three times a week for two months, two being free, public/anonymous, hour-long face-drawing sessions based in Europe, Drawing is Free and Pencils for Tea; the third, a private group I was invited to by chance. On reflection, it's been a rather intense and sustained effort, though the face sessions in particular don't feel that way, and as you can imagine, I've had thoughts. I better start, in no particular order, before they escape. 

Even in this short time, I noticed a changes/widening of my setup, so I'll start with those: 

Technique: I like blindish drawing, though it depends on the day how much I peek, or even if it's only occasionally blind. Looking at the photos, I think I'm actually drawing more without looking in recent times than two months ago, but facial parts are more and more falling into the right places. 

Increasing I am holding tool at the top, just grasping the tool at the top 1cm/2cm, not having control of the quality of lines, for dry and wet medium. My favorite is my Dad's old fountain pen. Although drawing with the non-dominant had was my go-to in the past, I haven't tried it yet.  

Tools: I started with thin black markers, color gel pens, highlighters I found while cleaning the office, gold and silver felt tips; then added a refillable fountain pen, water-soluble crayons and watercolor/gouache, in part to reduce plastic consumption of pens. (I've only bought gel pens and felt tips recently.) I usually use only dry or wet medium in a given session, but have mixed them up occasionally. 

Paper: I started smallish, either multiple faces on A4 pages or one on A5 pages, but recently I'm spilling out of A4 sheets. I have considered bigger, but each face sessions are relatively short, (2mins-something to just under 5mins,) I haven't. As well, I tend to sit during the sessions; I'll most definitely consider bigger if I were to stand and draw, always a possibility. 

Even with the wet medium, I tended to stick to 110g-ish paper, white for the most part but black also. Now I use different colors and weights, for the strange reason: there seems to be a distinct lack of inexpensive 110g black paper in Nelson! Previously black sketchbooks were available anywhere inexpensive white visual diaries, (usually 110g,) were sold, though I can't remember if they were more expensive. 

Now if they are available, they are twice or more times as expensive, and/or with 2/3 or even half the number of sheets. I have sourced 140g A3 paper in fantastically saturated black, but this costs more than the higher priced black sketchbook sheets, and the paper is too smooth, while I prefer bumpy/rough. One of the $2 Stores had breathtaking dark-mid-grey pads, around 100g, with rougher surface, 30 sheets for $2.50. (I know!!!) which holds water pretty well for the weight. I'm also trying out color printer paper. (If that dark-mid-grey came in cashmere or merino, I wouldn't hesitate to get a few kgs right away.) 

I'll keep looking for thin, rough black paper, but I know my preferences will change over time. I am, though, sticking to the inexpensive materials, because paperwork is therapy, in contrast to weaving. I work quickly and go through a lot of material. And it makes more sense for a pensioner.  

I'll stop here for this post. These pics are from January, before I got paper in different colors. 

Stella's (Worldwide) Adentures - Part II of II

This post may be a little cryptic as I decipher scribbles or try to remember what I didn't scribble. If you're a weaver or are familiar with weaving jargon, I hope you get the gist; otherwise, you can laugh and think, "Oh, what a load miscalculations!" 

2026/1/21
I started working on these premises and made the warp and wound it on the back beam:
Warp: 30/2 100% merino, 60ends, (14ends per repeat*4 reps+4fl,) * 2.2m; folded in half to weave two strips side by side.

Threading: same on both, 5678765-1234321.
Sett: 48EPI on the right set, 42EPI on the left. 
Weft: sample 30/2 single, doubled, and tripled. 

2026/1/22
I threaded, sleyed and started sampling. Very quickly I discovered one 30/2 threaded in each heddle was too fragile as ends were breaking left and right and I could not sample properly. Times I used 30/2 in the warp, I doubled and used two ends as one. Neither am I dexterous enough to weave two strips side by side.

I made a second warp, with 74 ends, (14*2ends per repeat*2.5reps+4fl), 2.2m; threaded in the same way but only 2.5 repeats wide, and sleyed at 48EPI, 4pairs/8ends per dent in a 6-dent reed; I'm weaving only one strip. 

2026/1/23

Sampled. 

Far right: It was obvious even 30/2 tripled, (in 3 similar, not identical, colors,) made the design fussy and the motif squashed. But I noticed leftover merino used to spread the warp ends at the start looked good. (I also noticed a threading mistake so fixed that.) 

Second right: I had three similar 100% knitting merino leftovers and auditioned them. I liked the orange best as I felt it matched the (faded) Bayeux mood best, but it was too airy and squashed the motif, and the value was too close to the warp the motif did not show up well. The dark purple showed the motif best and was the thickest weft but there were no similar colors used in others' contributions as yet. Teal, on the other hand, showed off the motif well enough, but also several blues already used made it fit in the group best. 

The question was, whether to try sampling 30/2 quadrupled with one color and sample, (to show off fussy weaving for my aesthetic satisfaction, taking extra hours to weave,) or to go bold and sensible with the leftover merino. We actually took a quick trip into town to photograph Stella with a couple of iconic Nelson locations while I decided I'm going with the sensible direction. 

Second left: I reduced the width to two threading reps wide; 2.5 reps had a nice with symmetry and the stripe was wide enough not impossibly difficult to weave; 1.5 reps would have suited the project better but would have been close to impossibly slow to weave. I also thought the directional movement in the draft when positioned sideways would allow the asymmetry. I wove 40cm, expecting it to shrink to perhaps 38cm-ish. (I made no measurement nor checked shrinkage.) Tar left experiment with pale yellow 100% linen just for fun. 

With the weaving finished, and the teal strip inspected, I foolishly took the rest of warp off, put away the tools and vacuumed before wet-finishing, a bad order but I do it all the time. Of course I found a lifting mistake and the wefts were banged into position too firmly I couldn't mend it, so wet-finishing I did, briefly considered using the strip as is, then went back to the warping board. I also thought 40cm on the loom was too short. 

Rather than rescuing the discarded warp, I made another 2.2m, threaded with two threading repeats, and sleyed at 48EPI.

2026/1/24
I wove again, this time 42cm-ish, checked very carefully for mistakes, with the warp and tools untouched. There were no mistakes, but I had the presence of mind to notice the erratic beating. My beating is inconsistent at the best of time on better looms, but I was weaving on Klik, standing up, (because if I sat I can't see the shaft numbers,) and my back was hurting. If need be, I had another warp ready to weave. 

2024/1/25
I have never manipulated a piece in the wet-finishing this much, trying to disguise the different beating. Even though I had enough time to weave another, with the bad weather I was not sure if it would dry in time for me to attach it to the linen cloth, (itself a time consuming task, I expected,) package it up to communicate tracking numbers, etc, and for Ben to drop it off first thing Monday morning. For the first time, I even took out a hair dryer to coax the strip to dry faster.

The next conundrum was the position on the linen. Earlier I decided I'd love the top right, opposite Mia's text, but the just above it, the hemming of the linen is a little curvy and I wasn't sure how to deal with that. Also, with a strong teal color, the longer length, and the height, my strip overpowered Mia's text. (I did considering cutting the mistake off the first piece and using that.) We looked at bottom left, which might have been OK after 30 others contributed; bottom centre, which was interesting but in the present stage looked crammed; or bottom right, the color, height and length dominating the least there. 

As well, the weather improved, the temperature shot up, with high humidity after all the rain, I hemmed it at the coolest spot in the house, the top of the stairs, where the light wasn't great. That task took about an hour and a half, redoing some stitches so they remain as invisible as I can manage. But I was done at a reasonable hour of... can't remember... something like 8PM. 

Q. E. D. As Mom used to say: "Quite easily done." I don't know about easily; Klik is not an easy loom to weave pieces, (though great for studying new structures or sample while editing threading/sett rapidly,) I did so enjoy being a weaver and thinking and talking about it. It was a great reminder. 

2026/1/26
The box was sent off to the next contributor, Helen in Canterbury, first thing in the morning, and she received it at lunch time the following day. We already miss the noisy girls. And I have plenty of warp still left on the loom. 

Stella's (Worldwide) Adentures - Part I of II

I joined Mia Hansson's Stella's (worldwide) Adventures, which turned into my first weaving project of 2026. Here's a good intro to what the tour is. (Stella's Adventures group page covers or will cover her entire trip.) Now let me tell you my part.  

2025
I came across Mia's Bayeux Tapestry Story group page on FB early in the year. Mia is a Swedish Brit single-handedly trying to recreate the Bayeux Tapestry over a decade. Her group page is crazy informative on the techniques, process, and decisions she's had to make to carry out the project, while we fans often interject wild or informed speculation, all in buzzing joviality. There, Stella the Persistent Assistant appears from time to time to make mischief. 

Mia decided Stella should travel to get out of Mia's hair, so she solicited hosts to welcome her worldwide, and by the way, hosts should add some embroidery to the linen Stella will be traveling with. I didn't rush in, but when Mia announced the countries she's had volunteers from, I flippantly wrote, "New Zealand?" I didn't hear from Mia for months and gave no further thought, until in December, she requested my address, informing me Stella was about to leave Australia! I was working nightly on my needlepoint at that stage, so no worries, I can wing it. 

2026/1/15~18
On 1/15, I received an unsmall box containing Stella and her (new) little friend Arlette; a pink notebook in which hosts wrote background of themselves, local info, or their contribution, (some riveting reading itself;) and a piece of linen 82cm high and 135cm wide, neatly hemmed just the way Mia showed us she does on her project.

(The linen is not crocked but not pressed; it's my fault for not tugging from all sides.) This is 100% unbleached linen in plain weave, with quite a hefty weight to it, giving it that lovely large-dog-leaning hand. The recreation project is done on linen, (though now Mia suspects it could be linen/cotton,) 70cm high and gazillion meters wide before hemming, in a twill from memory. Both this cloth and the almost stiff embroidery gave me the impression the original Tapestry was probably far from delicate or fragile but hefty and more "down to earth", which is probably how it lasted this long. 

What astounded me in the first instance was the high level of embroidery skill of the previous hosts. Mia's star in the center, (Stella,) and the Bayeux-style tree in lower left, (see little Stella hanging on?) by Brigitte were done in wool in the traditional stitches used by Bayeux seamstresses. I realized it's been decades since I did cross stitch, maybe over 50 years since "freehand". I have bitten far more than I could chew! Reluctantly only at this point I joined the Stella's Adventures FZB group, and flipped through the pink notebook. I discovered the length to which everybody went in researching their subject, or took Stella around their homes/regions to introduce to the rest of the group. There was even a visit to Bayeux Museum and the cathedral where the tapestry used to be hung!! To say this was going to be a two-pronged project was an understatement. 

With bad weather coming, I started with Stella-around-my house, planning to move on to around Nelson on the group page front. In there I snuck in my trepidation about the lack of embroidery skills, to which Queensland weaver Lyn commented I should attach a piece of my weaving. Oh, I never thought about that! By Sunday morning, I knew what I was going to do.

2026/1/19
What: If you look at the pictures, considering I'm the 20th of 50 to contribute, though there is still plenty of space, placement is a consideration. Also, I wanted to use New Zealand Merino, somewhat fragile against friction, so I didn't want it to go where the cloth was likely to be folded. I decided a short narrow strip, or two, wouldn't be too obtrusive but also wouldn't disappear in the busyness.   

A long strip along one side was immediately voted out for not being harmonious with the other contributions. 

On the other hand, a strip the width of the text at top left (2cm*23cm), or the text+small Stella (2cm*30cm) would create a balanced look, but to make the weaving a little easier, I might make the width-on-loom between an inch and 3cm. I could put it at top right, or bottom right; it could even work bottom right and left, though top will probably be rubbed less often.

Warp: 

The linen cloth has a tinge of yellow, while in the 30/2 merino I plan to use, I only have pinkish "naturals." Of the two the darker taupe appears less jarring. Elsewhere I have undyed merino, but they are far whiter than the cloth, so that's out of contention. 

Weft: 
(This was part of the group page entertainment; I let the girls have some say.) 

Mia uses something like five or seven colors, in darker values than what I have, and quite a lot of yellow in them. There is a Burgundy, (I have brick orange in its place, which Mia says is closer to the original,) a dull yellow, (mine, a brighter version,) and indigo, (mine, second row far right.) Then I may pick maybe two others between green and blue. Mind you, the big difference is she makes pictures with these colors, while mine are weft colors, in clear horizontal squares. (I'm judging everything by looking at photos on her Tapestry page.)

And then I found Brigitte took Stella to Bayeux Museum, and there they had a display of the wool colors. 

I'm doing the usual. I'm not sure if I want to use many colors or just one or just a few.  

Sett: 
The merino I plan to use is 30/2 100% in the warp and the weft. Previously I used this in the warp at 36EPI to go with 26/2 and 20/2 cashmere wefts. At that time I experimented with 36EPI and 48EPI, (but apparently not 42,) and mentioned 48EPI was too tight as if the yarns had no room to expand. I think for the purposes of this project that sounds about right, as the embroidered part in wool is stiff. I'll sample 42 and 48EPI.

Draft: 
I had a quick look at Mia's finished length for a possible Bayeux-based abstract border motif, (over 55m so far,) but nothing jumped out. She being Swedish, I thought of one 8-shaft pattern I really like but only used once.     

Ooops, this is Stella; I think she's a Viking girl, as Mia used to make Viking reenactment costumes, and Normans were Viking descendants. The draft in question is to the left of her head. It can go the way it's drawn, or turned. I'll be weaving a long, narrow strip, while it will be attached sideways on the cloth, so wide and short.  

I usually prefer the bottom look, but in this case I like the directionality of the top two. I must consider what's the easiest to lift. Either works well in terms of warp repeat numbers to make an inch- or 3cm-wide strip. 

Decisions: 
With the easy stuff done, I have to decide on the following before putting a warp on and sampling: 
1) Weft colors. In fact, am I also happy with the neutral weft warp color?
2) One idea is to put on a wide multi-colored warp and weave a short, wide strip for the Stella project, and then to resley and weave a scarf  from the same warp. In this case, however, there will be gazillion warp ends to tidy before I can attach the strip/s to the linen, so in the first instance this sounds like a terrible idea. But a colorful scarf?  
3) The threading/orientation.
4) In case I need two strips, I should put on two warps side by side with a wide gap in between and weave the two at once.  

2026/1/20
No work done but went over notes. Making up my mind is sometimes the hardest thing to do. But I am enjoying the process as I have not had a "thinking" project since the elephant blanket of 2019.  

More to come.

That's Our Summer Done, More or Less

Ben and colleagues had a lot of leave accumulated, so it appears half the team had a nearly-month-long (or longer,) summer holidays; Ben had exactly four weeks off, which ended on the weekend. We, I, prepared a very long house project To Do list beforehand, some items long standing, but most tied to the building work we had done last winter/spring. 

We worked often but in short spurts, sometime taking turns going outside depending on the task, while the other cooled down inside or cooked; very different from our usual pattern. One big reason was we did a lot of scrubbing/sanding and oiling/staining/painting outdoors, so there was a lot of waiting for things to dry. The weather was largely cooperative, except a very wet Week 3. (Around then, Ben hurt his back again - he just gotten over his November incident, and the homeopathic remedies I've been taking for arthritis abruptly stopped working.) But it felt as if we fell into a new old-people working pattern. With a couple of holiday left,  we had not even finished a third of the list. 

Another reason we worked in such a (re)lax(ed) way was probably because we had "four weeks" in mind; somehow it felt so much longer than three weeks, Ben's usual summer break. We kept doing a little here and a little there, that on Sunday when we debriefed, we actually finished a little under half the jobs!! 

Our place looks chaotic inside and out, because we're not finished with projects and sometimes stuff is left out; flower pots and dead weeds are left all over the patio that's not what we're focusing on at that moment, but we'll get around to them eventually. Even the garden, overgrown even more than usual, had bits done, and I can tell which trees Ben pruned and look more polite better than before he pruned them. 

Plus, it's January/February when we get the really high temperatures, so some of the paint jobs, (I'm dying to paint the inside of three most frequently used closets,) can be done before the summer is well and truly finished. It's also up to Ben to build two small outside "tables", one for weeding/tidying/repotting flower pots, (so I don't have to kneel or bend often,) but more importantly a skinny side table on the front door step so folks don't walk too near the kitchen window and hit their head against the sharp corners. If he does, it's my job to clean up the wood we'll recycle.  

Our To Do list and the house remains in jumble, which kept me awake some nights, but importantly we feel rested, that we didn't spend the entire summer break doing chores. We're relieved because by last October/November, we were utterly exhausted from what felt like a hectic year but really wasn't. 

Old people ways of life, eh.  

* * * * * 

No weaving took place during the break, but suddenly it popped up. I'll talk about it really soon; it's an exciting, in a way complex project, but won't take long to finish, either. 

On paper, I only finished the smallest of the unfinished collage/drawing books, though I made progress on four other. I attended three zoom art session and rediscovered the joy of face drawing, even though the faces are through a tiny screen. Without intending, I found myself drawing larger and gestural. It's been great to suddenly find myself back in familiar territories. 

Mary Ann Moss has a new Substack, and in one of the vids she recommended face drawing zoom sessions by Brit Chloe Briggs, so I "went". Funny how one thing leads to another, giving me courage to try new things, or old things in new places with new people. I'm having fun, even though there are great sessions, good sessions, and downright sucky ones.  

When I'm not doing it alone, I'm pretty good at not looking while drawing blind contours, although mine are never strictly contours. There is magic in them, where we inadvertently get things surprisingly and pleasingly accurate.

This one was not blind, and I messed up the first version, but I was desperate to capture a unique pose. 

I love colors, and I love drawing big. I'm now routinely filling A2 pages in 3 to 5 minutes. The bottom one, though, was a fluke; it looks nice and immediately identifiable, but it looks too tidy for something I did. 

My favourite of the season so far. I'm trying to look more carefully, for longer, so I spot the most attractive shapes and lines. It's often the hair, but with her, the more I looked, the more attractive the hands became. Unfortunately I'm not composed and find myself drawing before I start to take a proper look look, so I have to revise my lines many times. That is why I love this one so much, that I managed to look carefully. 

I continue to be involved with the Letter Journal group, part of Admin for a second year. The group itself will be ten years old in March, though I didn't join until some months later. The "bigness" of each challenge seem to get bigger; I need even more time to do each spread, sometimes spending weeks practicing. But it's lovely to be exposed to others' creativeness, exhilarating just to try to keep up, even if my outcome is crappy. Collaborative works is like problem-solving for the most part, but I get a real sense of accomplishment when I finish a spread. I need to remember to photograph more results.

I've also made steady progress on the needlepoint project; I'm still not using colors as attractively as I used to, but the shapes are more interesting and I don't have to think too hard now. 

* * * * * 

And lastly but not the least, we cooked some delicious meals, nothing exotic or challenging, but ordinary meals that tasted great. Among other things, I'm into making pizza with a tortilla shell as a base. Because there is substantially less carbo, I can taste the toppings better, but the shell holds better than the cauliflower base we tried some time ago. 

I/we have plenty of projects leftover, but I'm making 2026 a(nother) year of finishing projects. It won't stop me from starting new ones, but things will get done, fingers crossed. And if we can use up old material, all the better. 

Onwards!